Blackbaud CRM Drives Immediate Value for YHA with Robust Out-Of-Box Functionality

 YHA is a champion of access to adventure, the outdoors, nature and heritage for all — but especially young people and underserved communities. Through brilliant hostel stays in amazing places, YHA connects guests to other people and experiences that enhance wellbeing. As a social enterprise and charity, YHA depends on the support of customers, members and donors to sustain its activities and impact. After conducting a year-long tender process to review multiple CRM system options, YHA chose Blackbaud CRM— a powerful enterprise-scale relationship management system—for its robust functionality.

Head of CRM and Data Management Paul Watkins had a vision to achieve a single customer view and led the transition from their former CRM system. “We chose Blackbaud CRM because it could house a single customer view and serve as the main source of truth for our customer data,” he shared. “We needed an out-of-the-box CRM without any initial heavy customisation. Blackbaud CRM fits our needs perfectly.”

Blackbaud’s experience and expertise in the not-for-profit sector also gave YHA confidence in the tech company’s ability to deliver a solution that aligned with the organisation’s visions and goals. The consistent involvement of the same core people from Blackbaud throughout the tender process and the build-up to implementation through going live was another crucial factor in their decision.

“We were highly impressed by the Blackbaud Professional Services team’s dedication and consistency. Their genuine desire to help and commitment to the successful implementation of Blackbaud CRM, as well as the ongoing relationship, were truly evident,” Watkins added.

Optimising Fundraising and Stewardship

YHA manages various fundraising activities, including lotteries, donations, legacies, and gifts in memory. By recording detailed information about each donation in Blackbaud CRM, YHA can track the source, purpose, and method of each gift and analyse and optimise its future fundraising strategies.

Since implementing Blackbaud CRM, YHA has significantly enhanced its ability to track and manage donor interactions, which has also led to improved stewardship efforts. It has increased the efficiency of processing donations, it now takes YHA about 25 percent of the time to process each donation compared to its old system.

“With Blackbaud CRM we can easily capture detailed information about donations, including the method of donation, the specific cause or program it was for, and the donor’s history,” said Darren Worthy, Senior Individual Giving Manager. “This allows us to tailor our fundraising appeals more effectively and ensure we’re asking the right people for the right amount at the right time.”

Fundraised income is used to provide grants for disadvantaged groups, enabling them to stay at hostels and participate in activities. “Using the capabilities in Blackbaud CRM, we can measure and articulate the success of our fundraising programs more effectively, helping us to make improvements and efficiencies in future appeals and campaigns,” said Abbie Belso, Senior Supporter Relations Manager.

As YHA are working towards the holistic, single source of truth, it introduced what it refers to as Middleware (essentially a data warehouse) to integrate customer data from four source systems:  the website, booking system, a group application and Blackbaud CRM. This integration ensures that all customer data is centralised, consistent and accessible, enabling YHA to have a comprehensive view of their supporters and manage  interactions more effectively.

Blackbaud CRM provides robust data query capabilities, allowing YHA to generate detailed reports via PowerBI on its fundraising activities and donor interactions. These reports help YHA measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve fundraising efforts.

Enhancing Supporter Engagement and Data Integration

Blackbaud CRM has played a crucial role in YHA’s digital transformation, enhancing its ability to manage customer relationships, streamline fundraising processes, and achieve its social impact goals. The next phase involves improving data cleanliness, onboarding new users, and integrating booking and volunteer information to achieve an even greater comprehensive single customer view.

YHA also has plans to tap into the software’s capabilities that allow for better segmentation and personalised communication with its all-important members, donors, volunteers and those that stay at hostels, based on their engagement history. This will enable YHA to identify customers who have stayed at a particular hostel multiple times and tailor their membership and/or fundraising appeals to highlight the customers’ connection to that hostel.

“With Blackbaud CRM, we’ll continue to improve upon our data management processes, customer engagement, donor stewardship as well as our ability to personalise and segment communications,” said Watkins. “With the software at the heart of our CRM  strategy, it will ultimately enable us to better understand and engage with customers and supporters, leading to increased levels of engagement, more effective fundraising, and a greater impact on our charitable objective.”